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Sports

Cougars prepare to face tough tandem

Houston will attempt to neutralize Owls' one-two punch Sunday afternoon

by CELENA FLORES
The Daily Cougar

When the UH women's basketball team travels across town to face its rival at 3 p.m. Sunday, Cougar players will find themselves looking up at Rice's version of the "Twin Towers." 

The Cougars will have to contend with the tandem UH head coach Joe Curl called the "Twin Towers," Lauren Neaves and Valeriya Berezhynska.

In the teams' last meeting Jan. 2, the Cougars were able to overcome the Owls in a 91-86 overtime victory. Houston, however, could not keep the 6-4 junior center Berezhynska from scoring a game-high 31 points. 

Neaves was forced to sit out the game against the Cougars because of an injury, but the senior forward will be in the lineup with Berezhynska and could give the Cougars problems down low.

"One of them was trouble, now two will mean even more trouble," Curl said. "We will have to double team them." 

The Cougars will not only have to contend with Rice's double threat of Berezhynska and Neaves but will also have to play the entire 40 minutes with consistency and focus.

"We will play a strong man-to-man, and when we play zone we will have to pay close attention to who has who," said Curl.

In the last four meetings with Rice, UH has earned three victories, but the Owls' lone victory came when it counted most -- in the Conference USA Tournament last season.

"They didn't get picked to be this year's favorite in C-USA for nothing," said Curl.

"It doesn't matter about what happened in the last game or in the past. I have a lot of respect for coach (Greg) Williams and the Rice team," he said.

This will be the last meeting for both squads as they scramble for seedings in the conference tournament beginning in March.

"We will have our eight, and they will have their eight or nine, and it will be a great game," Curl said. 

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